PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Zygolophodon proavus

Mammalia - Proboscidea - Mammutidae

Taxonomy

Mastodon proavus was named by Cope (1873).

It was recombined as Tetrabelodon proavus by Cope (1889); it was recombined as Mammut proavus by Hay (1902); it was recombined as Miomastodon proavus by Osborn (1922), Frick (1933); it was recombined as Serridentinus proavus by Osborn (1936), Galbreath (1953); it was recombined as Zygolophodon proavus by Madden and Storer (1985), Lambert and Shoshani (1998), von Koenigswald et al. (2023).

Sister species lacking formal opinion data

Z. lufengensis

Synonyms

Mastodon brevidens was named by Cope (1889).

It was recombined as Mammut brevidens by Hay (1902); it was recombined as Zygolophodon brevidens by Matthew (1918); it was recombined as Rhynchotherium brevidens by Osborn (1936) and Osborn (1942); it was synonymized subjectively with Zygolophodon tapiroides by Madden (1980); it was considered a nomen dubium by Tobien (1973); it was synonymized subjectively with Zygolophodon proavus by Lambert and Shoshani (1998).
Mastodon merriami was named by Osborn (1921). Its type locality is Virgin Valley, which is in a Barstovian terrestrial horizon in the Virgin Valley Formation of Nevada. It is the type species of Miomastodon.

It was recombined as Mammut merriami by Hay (1930), Galbreath (1953); it was synonymized subjectively with Miomastodon proavus by Morea (1981); it was synonymized subjectively with Zygolophodon proavus by Madden and Storer (1985), Shoshani and Tassy (1996), Lambert and Shoshani (1998); it was recombined as Miomastodon merriami by Osborn (1922), Osborn (1926), Osborn (1942), Zhang et al. (2023).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1873	Mastodon proavus Cope p. 10
1889	Mastodon brevidens Cope
1889	Tetrabelodon proavus Cope
1902	Mammut brevidens Hay p. 710
1902	Mammut proavus Hay p. 711
1918	Zygolophodon brevidens Matthew
1921	Mastodon merriami Osborn
1922	Miomastodon merriami Osborn
1922	Miomastodon proavus Osborn
1926	Miomastodon merriami Osborn
1930	Mammut merriami Hay
1933	Miomastodon proavus Frick p. 611
1936	Rhynchotherium brevidens Osborn
1936	Serridentinus proavus Osborn
1942	Miomastodon merriami Osborn
1942	Rhynchotherium brevidens Osborn
1953	Mammut merriami Galbreath
1953	Serridentinus proavus Galbreath
1985	Zygolophodon proavus Madden and Storer
1998	Zygolophodon proavus Lambert and Shoshani
2023	Miomastodon merriami Zhang et al.
2023	Zygolophodon proavus von Koenigswald et al. p. 8

Is something missing? Join the Paleobiology Database and enter the data

Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
subclass	Synapsida

Rank	Name	Author
—	Therapsida	()
infraorder	Cynodontia	()
—	Mammaliamorpha
—	Mammaliaformes
class	Mammalia
—	Cladotheria
—	Zatheria
subclass	Tribosphenida	()
subclass	Theria
—	Eutheria	()
—	Placentalia
—	Afrotheria	Stanhope et al. 1998
—	Tethytheria
order	Proboscidea	()
—	Elephantimorpha	Tassy and Shoshani 1997
family	Mammutidae	Hay 1922
genus	Zygolophodon	(Vacek 1877)
species	proavus	()

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

†Zygolophodon proavus Cope 1873

show all | hide all

Invalid names: Mastodon brevidens Cope 1889 [synonym], Mastodon merriami Osborn 1921 [synonym]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

terrestrialsubc

Locomotion:

actively mobilec

Life habit:

ground dwellingf

Diet:

browserf

Reproduction:

viviparoussubc

Created:

2005-08-31 15:15:52

Modified:

2005-08-31 17:15:52

Source: f = family, subc = subclass, c = class, subp = subphylum

References: Hendy et al. 2009, Lambert and Shoshani 1998, Carroll 1988, Lillegraven 1979, Ji et al. 2002

Age range: base of the Early/Lower Barstovian to the top of the Clarendonian or 16.30000 to 9.40000 Ma

Collections (8 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Barstovian	16.3 - 12.5	USA (Nevada)	Miomastodon merriami (19103)
Barstovian	16.3 - 12.5	Canada (Saskatchewan)	Zygolophodon proavus (18794 18799)
Barstovian	16.3 - 12.5	USA (California)	Zygolophodon proavus (231901)
Early/Lower Barstovian	16.3 - 12.5	USA (Montana)	Zygolophodon proavus (231898)
Early/Lower Barstovian	16.3 - 12.5	USA (Colorado)	Miomastodon proavus, Zygolophodon proavus (231902)
early Late Barstovian	16.3 - 12.5	USA (Florida)	Zygolophodon proavus (231900)
Clarendonian	12.5 - 9.4	USA (oregon)	Zygolophodon proavus (231897)